Along Came a Raven
by LoVe-WiLl-fInD-a-WaY
Summary: An AU where Sasuke never fled to Orochimaru, instead he decided to take matters into his own hands when she was no more than a toddler. A decade later Sasuke unknowingly saves her would-be-team, and greatly influences a war on her would-be-home. FemSasu
1. Chapter 1

Full Summary: At the age of three Sasuke was kidnapped by Orochimaru. Through vigorous training she is now an emotionless killer, an assassin, nicknamed the beautiful raven. On one of her missions she runs into team 7, that's where her world turns upside down. Tears are shed, love found, family reunited, respect earned, enemies made, and bonds formed. And all because Along Came a Raven, Along Came Sasuke.

Background information: Okay so in this story everyone is of the ages they were in the original Naruto (when they first became genin for most it's 12). Other than that everything will be explained… or it's too crucial to spill the beans right now…

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The shouts outside Sasuke Uchiha's room were an unwelcome wake up call. Awaking with a groan she placed a pale, elegant, hand on her face, as if to block out the world. As the shouts, amazingly, increased in volume she rolled over causing her waist long raven hair to run over her pillow and slightly off her bed. _'Can't they ever be quiet in the morning?' _Sasuke yelled in her mind as she felt her blood heat up. Giving an irritated grunt she snapped her obsidian eyes open and sat up, her legs hanging over her bed.

She grabbed her hair at her neck and ran her fingers down it, taming it slightly. The still tired pre-teen looked at the floor for a few moments before she stood up and went to go get ready. She went into her bathroom and after shedding all of her clothes got into the shower, letting the water simply run down her back for a while before she started to get clean.

After about an hour she looked into a mirror to reveal her hair in a high ponytail with her bangs framing her face. She was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with a low cut that showed off her impressive chest, well for a twelve year old, and short white shorts that showed her long creamy legs. She was a beautiful girl that looked delicate, the only evidence of her being a ninja was the katana strapped to her back.

As she walked back into her room she found a manila envelope sitting on her white sheets. _'Just what I need… another mission,' _Ignoring her thoughts she grabbed the envelope and walked into the corridor outside of her room, consisting of stone walls lined with torches. Once she shut, and locked, her door she opened the envelope and started walking while finding out everything about her client.

Name: Zabuza Momochi, "Demon of the Hidden Mist"

Nature Type: Water

Appearance: short black hair and brown eyes, no eyebrows, wears bandages like a mask.

Abilities: Water user and sword user. Vicious battler, prefers more direct attacks rather than deception. Strong taijutsu. Can also be crafty; enough skill to kill opponents through zero visibility. Capable of misdirecting his opponent.

Signature weapon: Decapitation Caring Knife.

Ninjutsu: 4.5

Taijutsu: 4.5

Genjutsu: 2.5

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 4

Speed: 4

Stamina: 4

Hand seals: 4

Total: 30.5

Other: Member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Is said to have a partner whose abilities are unknown. (1)

"This one," the snake like voice hissed behind her, "should prove to be more entertaining than the last."

"That's not saying much," she told him in a cold tone that would make most cower in fear.

"Now, now," he scolded like she was a small child that stole a cookie, "there's no reason to be rude. After all," he then made her heart almost burst out of her chest in fear by placing his hand on her shoulder and whispering in her ear, "I can control you with that _gift._" Sasuke felt her blood run cold at the reminder. The curse mark, the very thing that made sure she stayed with him. The thing that allowed him to control her every move (2).

"_Kill him," the pale man commanded._

"_No," the young, slightly tanner, girl of about eight retorted._

"_I wasn't asking. Now, kill him."_

"_No, I won't kill my friend," she gave a glare his way._

"_Then I'll force you," she didn't get a chance to talk back as marks resembling commas spread all over her, and soon she was moving toward something. No, someone in the far corner, their appearance hidden in the shadows._

_Suddenly the room was filled with screams. Her heart felt like it was being ripped out, yet she couldn't stop. Screams, more screams, blood curdling screams. He was in pain-lots of pain. So was she. She wanted to stop, she wanted to stop so badly. The screams stopped. So did his breathing. He was dead. She had killed him. The mark retreated but she felt even more pain than before as she let out her own blood curdling scream. (3)_

She took a deep breath to rid herself of the memory. Orochimaru gave a knowing smirk while letting go of her which only made the heat building in her stomach increase, something she let him know by sending him her best glare before quickly departing.

She had to squint to shield her eyes against the light of outside the hideout. She was used to the darkness now, but she remembered a time when the mere thought of darkness as heartbeat and breathing erratic. She had dreaded facing the terrors of the dark by herself, the dark held too many mysteries. In the dark everything was shadowed, hidden, and it was hard to tell what something was, or if it was even there at all. It made you question yourself, as if it was playing a mind game with you. Of course the silence was apart of this game too. The silence was like the darkness's friend, and it enjoyed laughing at you, at your fear, like it was encouraging you to be frightened, because it was, after all, silence and darkness's favorite game to make you as frightened as possible.

She was broken out of her thoughts by a rough voice, "All you're doing is copying me, like a monkey! You can't beat me with cheap tricks!" Looking down she saw her target fighting a man with gray hair and mismatched eyes, one red with commas surrounding it which she quickly recognized as the sharringan, something she had as well . She felt herself smirk as she unsheathed her katana, '_he's distracted, this will be much easier'._ She watched, waiting for the perfect moment to strike when she saw that the gray haired man was trapped in some sort of water prison. He was yelling something about running away, looking to the right she saw three people. Two who were about the same age as her; one blond boy and one girl with pink hair. They were standing in front of an old man, protecting him _' probably a client.' _She thought.

"No way sensei! We aren't leaving you!" the blond yelled, _'looks like the blond has some guts, Zabuza could kill him easily.'_

As much as she wanted to see how the blond would fair she knew that she had a job to do. So with this in mind Sasuke quickly threw a shurriken into the water clone that Zabuza had sent towards the genin causing it to disappear. She jumped down in a graceful motion, leaning to catch the shurriken coming back at her, a smirk on her features as she felt small butterflies form in her stomach. Swiftly she jumped towards the brown haired man throwing several punches at him, which he blocked.

"You think you can beat me so easily?" He asked, and even though you couldn't see his mouth you could tell he was smirking.

"Get out of here kid!" The gray haired man shouted at her. Feeling the familiar feeling of her blood warming she sent a glare at him.

"I don't like being called a kid." Next thing anyone knew she landed a punch in Zabuza's stomach, causing him to let go of the trapped man.

"Thanks," the man said, "but I can take it from here," _'Arrogant asshole, just because you're older doesn't mean you're better!' _She thought as she felt a small twitch, hardly noticeable, form under her right eye.

"What's your name?"

"Kakashi," he answered while he walked toward her target.

"Well, Kakashi, I'm afraid that it's my job to take him out. So, I'm going to have to ask you to step aside." Instantly after her words left her mouth Kakshi's eyes widened. She ignored this fact as she simply stepped past him, "why don't you go teach them," she pointed towards the two around her age, "something useful while I take care of this guy?"

With those words Sasuke launched into battle. It looked like she was going to jump towards him, but instead she jumped over him, surprising him letting her slash his side. He moved his sword out towards her neck, which she narrowly dodged, leaving a small cut on her cheek. Jumping a little farther away she leaned towards him while throwing multiple chidori senbons (4) striking him in his vitals, causing him to fall to the ground his consciousness slipping soon after. _'He should be dead within ten minutes…' _

Once she turned around she found that the other's had been watching the short battle intently. The blond in the obnoxious orange jumpsuit looked like he wasn't sure if he should be amazed or angry, the pink haired green eyed girl looked shocked, and Kakashi, had his headband put back over his red eye. If she hadn't been very good at reading people then she wouldn't be able to see it but his eye was slightly widened. Their client still looked slightly shaken. _'Huh,' _she though, _' I guess I overdid it.' _

"Hey! How'd you do that?" the blond one shrieked while jumping up and down, "Can you teach me? Can you please please please please _please." 'Oh. My. God.' _Sasuke thought while using all of her self restraint to not strangle the boy.

She opened her mouth to tell him to 'shut the hell up or I'm going to kill you' but instead a person jumped out from the trees. They had straight black hair, about to the length of their shoulder blades down low tied in a sort of piggy tail style, while the back was in a bun. Their face was hidden with a white mask with red decorations. Their attire consisted of a green-brown long sleeve turtle neck with a loose large short sleeve blue shirt with white trimmings over it tied with a sash, loose pants, the same color as the turtle neck, and sandals.

"Eh? Who are you?" The loud mouth asked while Sasuke came to the conclusion that he was probably half deaf so he wasn't aware of how loud his voice was.

"I," the person spoke in a surprisingly gentle tone, "am a hunter nin from the village hidden in the mist and have come to collect Zabuza's body." As this person, it was impossible to tell if it was male or female due to the mask and loose clothing, said this Sasuke saw a small twitch in their hand, something she doubted anyone else noticed. Whoever this was, was lying.

"I can't let you do that," Sasuke said in her iciest tone, while feeling her jaw clench knowing she had been lied to.

"And why is that?"

"You're lying to me," her voice turned smug as everyone's eyes widened, proving that she was the only one to notice, "Your right hand twitched, something that clearly showed you were nervous. Now why don't you tell me who you really are?"

After a while of no answer Sasuke moved forward to get rid of the mystery person when the blond came running after her.

"I'll help you!" He yelled in a voice that sounded like a mix of determination and excitement. Sasuke's eyes widened after he said this, _'He's going to get himself killed!' _As Sasuke landed a punch on the masked one, cracking it slightly, the blond ran up and tried to land a kick. Whoever this was, was fast, they caught the orange clad ninja's leg and twisted him upward until he was practically standing up. Next thing anyone knew they threw him at Sasuke. She quickly caught him before tossing him to the side to go and get her target's body, to prove that her job was done. When she looked, no one was there, she felt her blood boiling instantly, this boy had just stopped her from completing her mission! Because of him the "hunter nin" had escaped!

"You little shit!" she screamed in his face, usually she was a calm person, unfortunately idiots were one of her pet peeves, "Why the hell did you do that? Are you retarded or something?"

"Why don't you just stop being a bitch? I was only trying to help you!" He shouted right back.

"I didn't _need _help! It would've been fine until your dumbass interfered!" By this point Sasuke was seeing red.

"You're the same age as me! If you could fight him I could too!"

"No you couldn't! I was strong enough to fight a guy your sensei couldn't, what makes you think you're even close to my level?" He didn't say anything more, simply turned his head away in a pout. _'Stupid little shit…After I complete this mission I swear I'm going to kill him!' _

"Uh…" the girl asked slowly, nervously, "could I ask you something?"

"What?" Sasuke yelled, not really mad her the girl more at the boy that was still pissing her off.

The pink haired girl flinched, "What's your name?"

The raven sighed, calming herself, "Sasuke."

"Um…Sasuke, could you help us get our sensei back to where we're supposed to go?" Sasuke felt her eyebrows furrow slightly, then stop when she saw that the man, Kakashi, was passed out. Sighing Sasuke simply picked up Kakashi and started walking in the direction that it looked like they were going before.

"Are you coming with me or not?" After the words slipped from her mouth they followed her.

"I'm Sakura," the pink haired girl stated after several moments of silence, Sasuke just raised as an eyebrow as in saying 'so?', "I just thought since we know your name you should know ours." Sasuke just nodded.

"And I'm Naruto!" The obnoxious one said while putting his left hand on his hip and dramatically punching the air with his right, "and one day I'm going to be Hokage! Believe it!"

"Like an idiot who doesn't even know when to stay out of a fight could ever be Hokage."

"Hey! Stop being a bitch and take that back!"

"Nope," Sasuke replied with a smirk.

"You'll have to take it back when I kill that guy for you!"

"Good luck, you'll need all you can get."

"Hey- I will not! I'll kick both of their asses then I'll kick yours!"

"Whatever…" Sasuke sighed.

"I will! By the time this is over you'll be _begging _for mercy!"

"So," she drawled with a knowing smirk, "I take it you're going to interfere no matter how much I don't want you too?"

"Exactly!" He shouted with a large grin.

"Well then, Naruto, Sakura," she stated while looking at them as she said their names, "looks like we better make you useful."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke smirked, "you'll see."

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(1) all of this information is from narutopedia (except the partner thing).

(2) I know that the curse mark doesn't let Orochimaru completely control them and it's more like a strong influence….but in my story it does.

(3) crappy flashback I know, and I promised myself I wouldn't do one, but what's a naruto fic without one?

(4) I know that Kakashi never taught her this, so let's just say that she heard about it and thought about making the jutsu up…okay? Okay. And I know I suck at fight scenes but what else what I supposed to do? 'one thing let to another and then he lay there unconscious.'? no that would have been ever worse so deal with the crappy fight scene or make one up in you head… I don't really care. In case you're wondering she's as strong as the Sasuke in shipuuden, I'll give you stats next chapter…I think. And in case you didn't know chidori senbons is basically a bunch of tinny chidori's thrown, it looks like senbons that are lit up.

A/N to all of you who read the original, I know the beginning is VERY different, but I think this will really help with bonding… Plus I realized this is Sasuke master assassin…and I made her WAY too weak the first time around.

LOOKING FOR BETA! ANYONE WANNA BE ONE?


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto gave yet another grunt of pain as he hit the ground for the one-hundred and twenty-third time today. Looking upwards at the tree he gave a sigh- he was only about three feet from reaching the top. When Sasuke had said that she was going to train the two genin he had been ecstatic- thinking that he would learn a cool new jutsu. Instead they were doing a _chakra control exercise. _Sakura had gotten it right away and moved onto water walking. Naruto, however, had been stuck with tree climbing for the past five hours.

Giving a grunt he stood back up and ran at the tree, focusing chakra into his feet as he hit it. He kept running and running until he was about three inches from his last mark before the bark of the tree broke off and he quickly slashed the trunk with his kunai before plummeting back towards the ground. He just _couldn't _get the balance right. He either used too much chakra or not enough- either way he would lose his grip on the tree. Giving a sound he got back on his feet and tried again.

Sasuke gave a small sigh as she watched the blond try once again to reach the top of the tree. She had been pleasantly surprised when Sakura had been able to master the two exercises in under an hour, but the blond didn't posses such talent. He was making process, but it was such slow progress that at this rate it would take at least a week to master both the tree climbing and water walking exercises.

"Keep the flow constant," Sasuke spoke as she walked out from her hiding spot in the trees.

"I'm _trying._"

She leaned back onto the tree behind her, "Apparently you aren't."

"Maybe you should try to stop being such a bitch!"

"Maybe you should try to not be so stupid and listen to me. I_ am _teaching you after all."

Naruto turned around and gave her a full on glare as he once again slipped from the tree, "I thought you were going to teach us _cool _stuff. Like those things you threw at Zabuza! Not some stupid chakra control exercise!"

"I could teach you every jutsu in the book, but it would mean nothing if you get exhausted after using them. Now, get up and try again- and try to get the flow constant."

"Fine," Naruto grumbled before mumbling insults under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" He called as he dashed towards the tree. He continued running until he was about five inches from his last mark (nearly to the top of the tree now) when some bark broke.

"Less chakra," Sasuke called in a bored tone, "don't loose focus like that."

Sure enough with a little less chakra he managed to gain grip on the tree once more and (finally) make it to the top. He jumped towards the ground with a large smile on his face while Sasuke simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Took you long enough," She looked towards the sky, "it's too late to teach you water walking, so you'll just have to rely on the tree climbing."

Sasuke started walking back towards the house, Naruto following soon after. The walk was one full of one sided conversation, with Naruto trying to get Sasuke to tell him about all of her jutsu, how she learned them, where she was from, ect. Then she would fail to answer and he would insult her, and occasionally she would call him stupid in return. Once they reached the house (and Naruto shut up) it didn't miss either of their eyes at how Sakura's headband was now across her forehead- as it should be. Sasuke gave a nod of approval remembering their conversation back at the hot springs.

_Sakura had once again mastered the exercise with ease, turning around with a smile on her face she was expecting some kind of praise, like she had gotten from the tree climbing. What she did see was Sasuke standing there with a frown on her face and a thoughtful expression in her eyes. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion Sakura stood there for several seconds._

"_Did I do something wrong?" Sasuke shook her head and let out a humorless laugh._

"_You're the worst kind of Kinoichi," the raven haired girl explained, "You're the one who actually has the strength, but decides not to use it. You could easily learn and master jutsu with your control, but you focus more on your hair and makeup instead," Sakura gave the other girl a hurt look, tears clearly in her eyes, "well let me tell you something pinkie, your hair and makeup won't matter when you end up dead!"_

"_But I won't die! I have a team, and teams protect each other and-"_

"_I hate to break it to you, but your team won't always be around to save your ass. This is a male dominated profession Sakura, if you want to survive you can't just be as good as the boys you have to be better."_

"_That doesn't make any sense."_

"_Sure it does, when your team gets attacked who will the enemy go for? The big buff boys or the girl? You'll _always _be targeted first Sakura, so you can't be weak. It's the weak ones like you that give the rest of us a bad name."_

"_That's not true! In the academy I-"_

"_Well this _isn't _the academy Sakura," Sasuke once again interrupted, "this is the real world. Either grow up and start acting like a real ninja, or go back home and find another career. This one obviously isn't for you."_

_Sakura stood up and tied her headband across her forehead, no longer caring that it wasn't as fashionable, "I might not be as good as you, Sasuke, but I _will _prove you wrong! I _am _a real ninja, and this _is _what I want to be for the rest of my life!"_

_Sasuke just smirked before walking away._

"Eh?" Naruto gave a confused look, "Why did you move your headband Sakura?"

"Because that's how real ninja wear it," she said like it explained everything. Naruto's look of confusion just grew.

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For the members of team seven the night was rather uneventful, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Sasuke. The girl new that soon Orochimaru would come looking for her- she never took longer than two days to complete an assignment- and she was torn between leaving the group and searching for Zabuza herself or just waiting for the man to come to them. On one hand Zabuza was sure to return for the bridge builder, but there was no guarantee for when, and there was the possible risk of evoking Orochimaru's wrath. On the other hand if she went to search for Zabuza it might take just as long to find him as it would for him to show, and the team of Konoha ninja would quiet possibly go looking for her (either as a temporary teammate or a possible betrayer she wasn't sure). Option two still led the risk of Orochimaru's wrath. Then, there was the third option Sasuke had come up with- it too with the risk of an angry Orochimaru- she could return to sound and say that this team had killed Zabuza before her (it _was _after all only a matter of time before that became true), but if Orochimaru found out about her lying she might as well slash her own wrists.

Sasuke leaned back against the wall and let out a nearly- silent sigh. There wasn't any course of action that Sasuke could take that wouldn't lead to her facing a punishment from the snake lord. Of course why she had even helped this team in the fist place was beyond her: she had seen hundreds of children younger than they be led into death's doors and she hadn't cared either way. Perhaps she was growing a heart- or it was impossible to ignore the loud-mouth blond and her concentration had slipped. She prayed to whatever higher power was listening that is was the second one. A heart was a horrible thing to have if you lived in sound.

"Why are you awake?" It seemed that the jounin teacher was finally awake.

"I suppose it would be too cliché if I were to say 'I could as you the same thing?'" To her delight her voice came out much calmer than she felt.

The small curve that formed in his eye was evidence that he was smiling, "I suppose it would. That wasn't really what I wanted to ask you anyway."

"I didn't think it would be."

"You're pretty strong- especially for your age. I bet your parents are proud."

Sasuke flinched a little, "I guess you could say that,"

"Thank you for looking after me team-," he stopped for a moment, "I never did get your name."

"It's Sasuke," said girl drew her knees up to rest her arms on them.

"Where are you from Sasuke?" It was three minutes later and she still hadn't answered. Kakashi thought about dragging it out, but figured he might as well just ask a different question- interrogation was never one of his strong suits, "Why did you help us?" Sasuke shrugged, "I wasn't so much helping you as I was trying to complete my own mission."

"Zabuza?" She nodded, "Why did you stay afterwards then?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, she was having trouble finding the right words, "Partly because Zabuza is bound to come back for the bridge builder eventually," she had come to the conclusion to follow that plan in the three minutes of silence, "But it's mostly because those two didn't look like they could handle themselves for more than a few minutes at most." Kakashi nodded, accepting the answer. He would question her more about her roots later, but right now he really had to pee.

"Good night Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded as he walked away. Sasuke still didn't sleep that night.

'_I doubt they would all be so accepting if they knew of the monster that I really am.'_

**A/N: I know you all probably hate me SO much. My laptop finally gets fixed and this is the chapter I leave you with? A crappy filler? Oh well, as much as I myself don't like them they are necessary- mainly to get Sakura out of annoying mode. I hate her like that. Anyway enough of me blabbing and sorry for me talking so much to the two or three of you who are actually reading this still.**


	3. Chapter 3

The second Sasuke woke up she knew that this day wasn't going to be a calm one. It wasn't the weather that told her, nor was it some sort of psychic feeling that had crept its way into her gut the night before. It was the fact that she could hear Naruto screaming his head off, along with Sakura, and the old man's grandson crying. Sasuke gave a sigh as she rolled onto her side- she hadn't slept well- in fact she had only gotten to sleep about an hour prior to the rude awakening. What they were arguing about she didn't know (nor did she want to), but along with it being extremely annoying it also gave her a strong sense of déjà vu. If it weren't for the warm sun shining on her right now she could have sworn that she was in Sound again.

"Look kid, I don't know what the hell makes you think you can talk about us like that, but if you don't shut up I'm going to smash your face in!"

It was at this moment that Sasuke realized that the blond idiot _must _have been born with an extra set of lungs. There was just no way any human being could be this loud. As Sakura gave an agreeing comment she was proved wrong: either they were both given an extra set of lungs or it was a Leaf ninja thing. Maybe Kakashi could be extremely loud as well and she just hadn't heard it yet. As the sobbing got louder she decided that she had better go see what was going on _before _the kid had an emotional break down. This kid really needed to get a backbone if this was all it took to make him cry.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Her voice had an icy edge to it that made the two genin visibly stiffen.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but the Sakura beat him to it, "Inari kept going on and on about how we're going to die. We just thought that we should make it clear that he was wrong."

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted, "The stupid brat should learn his place!"

"You're both wrong," the sobbing boy managed to choke out, "You're all going to die because that's how it works in the real world. The heroes _never _win!" At the end of his speech the small boy ran out of the house.

"Stupid brat," Naruto grumbled, "you'd think he was working with Zabuza the way he's talking."

"That's not quiet it," the boy's grandfather spoke, "you see his father was once a great hero to this village. He had stopped many of Gato's thugs from hurting the innocent, but one day his father took on a task that proved too much for him. It ended up killing him, ever since Inari believes that heroes are destined to die young."

"He's not completely wrong," Sasuke commented, at the weird looks she was getting she elaborated, "ninja- although they can easily be the enemy or the savior- rarely live past twenty-three."

"I guess that's true," Sakura reluctantly agreed.

"Yeah," Naruto murmured.

"Why so glum?" The familiar voice of their Jounin sensei called from the stairs.

"Sensei you're awake!" The loudest of the group exclaimed as he moved closer to Kakashi.

"Are you sure you're okay to be moving around sensei?" Sakura questioned.

"I'm fine Sakura, right now you should be more worried about Zabuza and that hunter ninja showing back up."

Said girl turned her head as her face grew a shade closer to her hair color, "yes sensei."

"Tazuna," Sasuke spoke up, "are we escorting you to the bridge today?"

"Of course you are. You wouldn't leave an old man to fight for himself would you?"

"Then lead the way Tazuna," the four ninja began to follow, when Kakashi leans toward Sasuke, "stay here and protect his family. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen." She wasn't sure what exactly it was, but something in Kakashi's voice demanded no argument, so she simply nodded her head.

"Huh?" Naruto turned his head, "Sensei why isn't the ice queen coming with us?"

Kakashi snorted at the nickname for Sasuke, "she said something about how protecting him wasn't her job. Oh well, I guess his daughter and grandson will have some protection at least. We'll be on our own today guys."

"Okay sensei," the two said together.

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Sasuke sat on the bottom stair watching Tazuna's daughter scurry around the kitchen for something. It seems that she was making Inari's favorite meal to help get him in a good mood. Sasuke inwardly snorted- reward the kid for overreacting, great parenting. Sasuke's eyes lazily scanned the room once more, this was probably the most boring day of her life. Suddenly a large bang was heard from the front of the house. As she got up to go see what had happened she saw the front door had been kicked down and there were two men each with a sword and a large amount of scars. Seems like it wasn't such a boring day after all.

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Kakashi prided himself in the fact that was always prepared. Even when he was younger he would always know exactly what he was getting himself into. He had always assessed situations before dealing with them, and this time it was no different. Except, of course, that he had asked the only other ninja that could have helped with this fight to stay behind. That probably hadn't been his best decision.

"Zabuza, I knew you would show up sooner rather than later," Kakashi drawled- although he wasn't expecting it to be _this _soon.

"Kakashi, tell me, how much faith do you have in your students?"

Kakashi smirked, "Sakura is the smartest genin this year, and Naruto has a reputation of being unpredictable."

"Haku," Zabuza turned towards the masked ninja to the right of him, "take care of the children, would you?"

"Of course Zabuza."

Before anyone could process what had happened Haku leaped towards the blond ninja first, a senbon in hand. Naruto struggled to keep up with the other boy, barely managing to dodge his attacks. Sakura remembered Sasuke's words, and immediately leapt to his aid- though she was even slower than he. Naruto had somehow blocked one of Haku's hands, and Sakura had drawn a kunai to his neck.

"You're making this much too easy for me," though they couldn't see his face they knew he was smirking.

"What the hell are you taking about?" Naruto demanded, "We have a kunai to your neck and we blocked your hand! You should just give up!"

"On the contrary actually, you have blocked your own hand, and two Genin like you would never have the guts to actually slash my throat."

To both Sakura and Naruto's mixed amazement and horror Haku began a series of one handed hand seals. Kakashi looked over in time to see this and his eyes widened visibly. He lunged forward in an attempt to help his students, but was stopped when Zabuza threw several kunai only mere inches in front of the Jouin forcing him to retreat.

"You're opponent is me!" Zabuza yelled in a demonic voice.

'_I'm sorry you two, but it seems you'll have to face that guy on your own. At least for a little while.' _Turning to face Zabuza Kakashi pulled his headband up revealing the deep crimson that identified the sharingan in his eye.

" Then I suppose I'll just have to beat you quickly then, huh?"

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Sakura and Naruto were now surrounded by thick mirrors of ice that each held an identical image of Haku. The images all held up a handful of senbon before drawing their arms back in unison and flinging them forward into the two genin. Both of them let out a bloodcurdling scream as the needles drove through their skin.

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Kakashi flinched at the noise. He hadn't thought that they duo would attack them so soon, and so he had carelessly allowed for his subordinates to get injured.

"Distracted Kakashi?" Zabuza's voice was heard through the thick mist. The only reason Kakashi had any idea at all were he was was with the help of the sharingan.

"Just thinking about what I should put on your grave," Kakashi remarked. This earned an infuriated growl from Zabuza, and the sound of a kunai clashing with Zabuza's sword could be heard.

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Naruto knelt next to Sakura. Haku was moving at amazing speeds and their eyes, let alone their bodies, simply couldn't keep up. Try as they might they weren't fast enough when they were in their best shape, let alone now. Naruto formed the hand seals for his shadow clone jutsu, again sending them into the mirrors in an attempt to break them, with no success.

"You should just give it up," Haku called, drawing back even more senbon, "you're going to die in here."

As the senbon went flying both Sakura and Naruto noticed the difference in this attack compared to the others. The previous attacks were meant to immobilize- they were painful but they were hardly deadly. These senbon were aimed for vitals- the heart, liver, kidney, jugular, ect. They both sent a simple look to each other, it was a small gesture, but sent much meaning in it.

"_Naruto I'm sorry I thought you were annoying. I'm sorry I didn't accept any of your advances, and I'm sorry I didn't treat you better. Please forgive me Naruto."_

"_Sakura I shouldn't have annoyed you so much. I should have backed off and just been happy with being friends. Maybe we could have gotten along better if we were just friends."_

Both of them shared a single thought.

"_I don't want to die."_

Sakura and Naruto both let out a terrified yell and allowed a few tears to escape from their eyes as they flinched heavily preparing themselves for the sure death hit. They both suddenly felt a pressure on there upper arms, and when both of their eyes reopened they saw Sasuke pulling them out of harms way. The girl wasted no time in countering an attack of her own on the other ninja. With her eyes gleaming a brilliant red decorated with three black commas each she preformed a quick set of seals before taking a huge breath. As she blew out a large fire ball had formed, once the enemy had reappeared in the mirrors you could tell his entire right side had been scorched by Sasuke's attack.

"So it's you again," the masked ninja spoke quietly.

"Yeah," Sasuke smirked, "it's me again. This time you aren't getting away!"

"I don't believe you have a choice. I'll make sure you never leave this dome of mirrors!"

**A/N Things are finally getting interesting it seems! The next chapter should be up in about a week, but sorry if it isn't. I'm actually working several chapters ahead of myself at the moment (the chunin exams) it's both extremely difficult to put together and my favorite part. I needed to start it early to work out all the teams and battle vs., ect. Anyway to cut a long rant short the next chapter may be a little late as to prevent the upcoming chapters to be extremely late.**


	4. Chapter 4

"_So it's you again," the masked ninja spoke quietly._

"_Yeah," Sasuke smirked, "it's me again. This time you aren't getting away!"_

"_I don't believe you have a choice. I'll make sure you never leave this dome of mirrors!"_

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Haku sent yet another barrage of needles- this time directed at Sasuke. '_Damn it' _Sasuke thought '_I need to get these two out of here. I can't fight and protect them.' _Haku's movements were drastically slowed due to the sharingan letting Sasuke see him as he jumped from mirror to mirror. Touching her wrist she summoned ninja cord, which she swiftly threw towards the boy. The amusement was made clear by Haku when he began to chuckle lightly, Sasuke just smirked- she hadn't been aiming for him anyway. The cord wrapped it's way around one of the many mirrors of ice, after completing another series of hand seals she preformed her dragon fire technique. As the fire quickly flew up the cord it made it's way to the mirror, torching it. Once the fire cleared Sasuke let out a glare- the fire had barely melted the ice at all.

"You'll need something much hotter than fire if you want to melt these mirrors."

The only response she gave was a glare.

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Kakashi stood not far from Tazuna as he waited for Zabuza to make another move. This fight had been dragging on much longer than it should have due to the thick mist that hindered Kakashi's sight. Not to mention the sharingan placing a continuous strain on both his eye and chakra reserves. If Kakashi wanted to win this he would have to end it quickly, there wasn't anytime to mess around.

"Still worried about the brats are we?" Zabuza's voice came in through the mist, "Or is it that you're worried about yourself now, eh, Kakashi?" He stressed each syllable on his name.

"No I'm still thinking about that gravestone of yours," Kakashi smirked, "what do you think sounds better, 'he was good with a sword,' or 'I guess we'll never know why he wore those bandages?'"

Zabuza came charging full speed at Kakashi. The gray- haired ninja began a long series of seals that- several seconds later- caused a loudly crackling bright blue ball to form in Kakashi 's hands.

"Chidori!"

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As Sasuke helped Naruto and Sakura escape another deadly barrage of weapons she silently went over all of her jutsu in her head, and no matter how she matched them up she could come up with only one solution: Amaterasu. It was much hotter than regular fire, and there was no doubt in her mind that she could melt the mirrors with it, but she knew all too well the consequences of the jutsu. That jutsu was always used only as a last resort- it overstrained her eyes far too much and would cause them to bleed as well as slowly making her blind. If she could just get the other two out of here she wouldn't have a need to use it, but as it was she knew that the ninja would use Sakura and Naruto as a diversion go get her hurt. She couldn't waste much time and even if she did the ninja wouldn't allow her to summon up a full scale trap to counter his jutsu. She gave a sigh: there was no other way that she could beat this guy and for all three of them to leave relatively unharmed.

Sasuke closed her eyes briefly while taking a large intake of breath while she focused her chakra to her eyes. Instead of re-opening both eyes she only opened the left eye- it's appearance changed to a black background with several crimson decorations.

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The chidori had sliced right through Zabuza like butter, causing a bloody stream to flow on the bridge.

"I think I like 'he was good with a sword' better. It's shorter," Kakashi said with a smirk before casting a worried look towards the ice dome. '_Naruto, Sakura, please be okay.'_

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"Naruto, Sakura," Sasuke called, "don't go near the flames."

The two blinked in confusion for a moment, as there weren't any flames yet, but not soon after her eye opened and the instructions left her mouth black flames consumed the dome of mirrors- along with Haku. Either the boy truly didn't think his technique could melt or he was too surprised to do anything about it as he simply stood there while he was engulfed in the intense heat.

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Kakashi let out a yell as the dome of mirrors irrupted in flames. He had once again failed his teammates and Minato-sensei. How could he be so careless as to let two genin fight on their own? He should have beaten Zabuza faster, he should have taken out Haku first, he should have done _something. _Kakashi turned his head away from the sight as a few tears slipped from his eyes. He couldn't watch them die- he couldn't stand to watch more comrades perish because of him.

"What's the matter Kakashi- sensei?" He could almost hear the blond. How could he allow his sensei's son to die? He had _promised _he wouldn't let him die.

"Is he in a genjutsu?" And Sakura, she was from a civilian family of course she wouldn't be strong enough to fight Haku. Sakura had never been able to learn those clan techniques that other children did- the only ones she knew were the academy basics.

"Kakashi!" And the other girl, she hadn't been his student, but she was just a child. How could he let her die with- wait. She hadn't been here, had she? So why was he- "For the love of God would you turn around already?"

As he did so his eyes widened considerably, "You- you're- alive?"

"Who did you think were talking to you?" The pink girl cocked her head to the side.

"Yeah sensei! You must be crazier than I thought if hearing voices is normal for you!"

As Kakashi stared at them he noticed that they weren't exactly _fine, _but at least they were alive_. _Both Naruto and Sakura had several senbon sticking through them, and they looked as if they were about to faint from chakra exhaustion. Sasuke's left eye was bleeding, but other than that the girl seemed fine. Come to think of it, when _did _the girl get here?

"Sasuke," Kakashi said as he pulled his headband back over his eyes, "I thought that I told you to stay with Tazuna's family."

The girl shrugged, "While I was kicking these mercenaries asses I heard some noise coming from the bridge, I figured you could use some help."

Kakashi smiled, this girl had saved his students lives, at the risk of her own. It was against his morals to trust a strange, unknown, ninja, but he supposed he could make an exception just this once. They didn't have time for a timely reunion however, as an army of bandits, mercenaries, and missing ninja could be seen invading the bridge.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke demanded while she wiped the blood off from under her eye.

"My name is Gato girl," a short ugly man sneered at her, "now get out of my way before my band of thugs re-arranges your pretty little face."

Sasuke's eye was twitching in annoyance, but she chose to say nothing. It would only fuel the fire more anyway. The small army behind him started to cheer at something Gato said before they started to charge forward. Sasuke took a low fighting stance along with the rest of the worn out ninja. Before Sasuke and team seven could attack however, a small army of civilians of the land of waves walked in front of them-led by Inari.

"I know I said hero's die young," the boy spoke, "but heroes also saved my mom, and - and I don't want to be a coward anymore! I don't want to be weak, and I want to protect what I love! It might mean I die young, but I'd rather live as a hero shortly than live forever as a coward!" With those words the civilians dashed forward slaying Gato's army.

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The four of them sat in Tazuna's living room drinking green tea.

"To the death of our enemies and the birth of the bridge!" Tazuna yelled before he took a sip of his tea.

"I'm a little worn out Tazuna. I think I'm just going to go to sleep now," Kakashi informed the man as he got up.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep early as well," Sasuke spoke.

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"Sasuke," Kakashi called as they were about to enter their respected rooms, "you never did tell me where you were from, but if you don't want to go back…the leaf village could be a home for you."

"Thanks Kakashi," Sasuke sighed after a few moments of silence before entering her room.

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The room was dark- the only light coming from the half moon in the sky. Sasuke stood next to her window- writing a note of some sort- before she set it on the bed and jumped from the window- landing with cat-like grace. With the moon as her only guide Sasuke walked over towards the graves that Naruto had convinced Kakashi to make.

"_Sensei," Naruto murmured- unusually quiet, "before Sasuke showed up that boy- Haku- was talking about how ninja's were just tools. How _we're _just tools. Is it true?" Everyone was quiet as they waited for Kakashi to answer._

"_In a way, yes, it is. Ninja are hired by men with little power to do their employer's will. The same way summons or kunai are used."_

"_Well I don't like it!" Naruto huffed, "From now on I'm not going to be a tool! I'm going to be own person! I'm going to follow my own way of the ninja!" _

She had finished digging up Zabuza's grave, only to slice his head off with her katana. Picking up the decapitated head she stuffed it into her bag before heading off into the night.

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"Sakura," Kakashi asked, "could you go see if Sasuke is coming with us?" Sakura nodded her head firmly before heading off to Sasuke's room.

The room was empty, except for a lone piece of paper left abandoned on the bed. Curious Sakura bend down to pick it up, it contained only one word: Goodbye.

**A/N Ah there you go. I feel this chapter was a little rushed- sorry for that. I just REALLY want to get to the chunin exams, which as fun as they are to write they're also a pain in the ass. I haven't started writing the actual chapters so I don't have an exact idea on how things are going to go down, but I do know who will be on who's team, who will fight who, ect. It may be a while for the next chapter to be posted.**


	5. Chapter 5

When Orochimaru had summoned Sasuke she had expected for him to be extremely angry with her. Several things had actually crossed her mind (he found out about the team, he was angry she took so long, he knew she didn't deliver the killing blow to Zabuza). When she walked into his office she had wanted to do nothing more than to beg for forgiveness before giving into her fear and running as far as her shaky legs could carry her. Instead she tried to act nonchalant and crossed her arms as she put all of her weight onto her left foot. Try as she might she doubted that Orochimaru missed her look of surprise at his question.

"Sasuke, what do you recall of that lesson on ninja rankings?"

Once Sasuke regained her composure after a few seconds she looked at the man with an uncaring look on her face. She in fact remembered the lesson perfectly. When Sasuke was younger and it was truly impossible for the young girl to spend hours physically training Orochimaru had seen to it that she knew everything there was to know about the ninja world- book-wise.

"Everything," she finally answered, "why?"

"Then you understand that you are still a genin?"

"Only technically," she spoke through clenched teeth. The thought that she was still a novice ninja had always irked her.

Orochimaru let out a low chuckle drawing out a small shutter from the girl, "How do you feel about making chunin?"

Sasuke gave the man an unbelieving look. In order to gain the rank of chunin she would have to take an exam in a ninja village, which, seeing as she didn't belong to any and technically didn't exist taking the exam wouldn't be very easy. Orochimaru must have seen her confused gaze as he decided to elaborate.

"It is required to have a three-man team in order to take the exam, currently there is a team that is lacking a third member. I decided to send you to fill the spot of the third member, considering you are more than qualified."

"Alright," she lifted her head up higher to see the ceiling, "I'll take the exam."

"Excellent," Orochimaru smirked, "I'll tell Kabuto to prepare your paperwork. You'll meet the other two in The Village Hidden in the Leaves tomorrow morning."

Once the leaf village was mentioned Sasuke's ears perked. _'Oh shit.'_

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Naruto and Sakura looked down and the sheets unbelievingly. Kakashi was trying to _promote _them? Why? The only thing the two had done in The Land of Waves was have their asses saved by Sasuke. What did they do that would earn them _this?_

"It's up to both of you individually if you want to take it," Kakashi informed them, "This isn't a decision to take lightly. People die in this exam, so if you feel unready you shouldn't take it." Both of the genin nodded before Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke- well Kakashi's clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Are you going to take it Sakura?" The blond looked towards the girl.

Once their team had returned to the village Sakura had taken an entire different attitude towards training. She remembered Sasuke's words about how she would always be targeted first and had taken it upon herself to ensure that she would be able to defend herself. She didn't look any different (aside from the headband placed across her forehead), and seeing as it hadn't been long since they had returned she hadn't improved much, but she _was _trying. Sasuke had become a sort of role-model to her, and damn if she was going to be anything less than the raven-haired girl.

"Of course I am, Naruto. Why? You scared?"

"No! I'm Naruto Uzuamki future Hokage! I'll take only any challenge you send towards me!"

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"Kabuto," Sasuke spoke to glasses wearing ninja, "do you have my paperwork filled out yet?"

He nodded before walking over to a desk and pulling out a fairly large packet, "Wait a few moments and we can start heading towards Leaf."

"_We?" _Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm taking these exams as well."

"I thought you were a jounin," she gave him a questioning gaze as she watched him scurry around collecting random objects.

"I am," he confirmed, "but as far as the village is concerned I never abandoned it. I'm simply a veteran genin trying to make chunin after there was an accident involving my team."

Sasuke nodded, deciding to not push the subject any longer. How he had managed to put up this façade for so long slipped past her, especially considering that he was hardly ever absent from the underground 'village,' but it wasn't her concern as long as he didn't bring an army of Leaf ninja to them. True to his words early after a few moments they were heading towards Leaf at high speeds only available to one who has trained their bodies endlessly to achieve.

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"What do you _mean _we have to get another teammate?" Naruto had always been known for his loud mouth, and his volume as he spoke those words was certainly no disappointment.

The third gave a sigh as the blond basically repeated what he had just told him. He loved the kid- he really did- whether it was because he resembled his father so much or if he had just grown on him during the years he had shown up in his office after he pulled a huge prank he wasn't sure, but at this moment the only thing that came to mind about Naruto- this kid was _dense_. "I mean just that Naruto. The exams require a three-man squad, it's just coincidence that there is another ninja without a team."

"But I don't _want _to work with some stranger! Can't you find a way around it? Please old man! Please! Please! Plea-"

"Naruto," an exhausted sounding Sakura interrupted, "stop being so immature. You'll have to work with strangers eventually anyway. So just shut up."

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Sasuke walked up the steps to the Hokage tower with an irritated expression. After days of constant travel she had to go turn in her paperwork to the Hokage- apparently before even taking a shower. She adjusted the sound headband that had recently been placed on her forehead- it felt strange to have something on her usually barren forehead. Most ninja described their headbands as being a weight of pride and hard work, and that they felt empty whenever they took it off- almost like married couples described their wedding rings. To her, though, it just felt heavy and grimy- almost like a burden- maybe it was because she didn't hold much loyalty to sound, or maybe it was just because it _was _heavy and the cloth had cut off her forehead from it's usual ventilation and the sweat felt gross and she was just reading into it too much. Either way she wanted to take the damn thing _off._

She could hear voices inside of the office and silently debated whether or not to actually open the door. After approximately 1.23 seconds she shoved courtesy to the side, down the hallway, and out the window. If they were going to disrupt her shower time then by god she could disrupt their meeting.

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"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted, "You're our new teammate?"

"No," Sasuke said before tapping the headband on her forehead, "they don't put ninja from different villages together."

Sakura's face immediately fell, and Naruto was pouting slightly. Had she really made this big an impression on the two?

"Can't we, like, swap our teammate for Sasuke old man?"

"Naruto," the third sighed, "as the girl just stated, ninja from different villages are not allowed to team up with one another."

"Why not?" The boy wined.

"Because," Sakura answered using the same exasperated tone as the Hokage had earlier, "it could lead to village secrets unnecessarily being revealed, if one fails one village could blame the other, or the third teammate could turn on the other two*."

"In other words it causes too much political tension," Sasuke summed up for the sake of the blond. He never did have the best attention span.

"Precisely," Sarutobi confirmed, "you're new teammate will meet you at your usual training grounds tomorrow morning at eight a.m."

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"Hello," the boy that spoke was a few years older than Sakura and Naruto, and possessed the same pre-maturely gray hair that their sensei did. Perhaps they were related the two mused. Or they were just so similar in personality that they had somehow picked up a very un-common physical trait. They hoped not, the last thing either wanted was to have another Kakashi around.

"I take it you're our new teammate," Sakura spoke in welcoming tone.

"Kabuto," the other introduced himself after adjusting his glasses higher up on his face.

"Sakura," she nodded before elbowing Naruto in the ribs.

"Naruto," he grumbled. He really didn't want to work with some stranger, and even more so that the boy was still a genin at what appeared to be about sixteen. Pitiful.

"I have taken these exams before," Kabuto informed them before pulling out a large deck of cards from his pocket, "and as such I have managed to gain information on almost all of the competition."

"Eh?" Naruto looked confused, "what are those card things for?" The blonde's face paled considerably, "Please tell me you aren't one of those freaky card collectors! If you are I don't give a shit if you're our third teammate, I'll have to beat the weird out of you!"

Sakura gave him a punch to the head, "Idiot, their stat cards." Naruto-as usual with simple explanations- just looked even more confused, "they tell you everyone's abilities." Those seemed to be the magic words as suddenly Naruto's eyes lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July and he was bouncing around Kabuto like a lost puppy.

"Is there someone specific you two would like information on?" The gray haired ninja asked evenly.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted immediately, causing Sakura to faceplam. Kabuto looked through his large stack of orange cards before pulling one out and flipping it over for his two teammates to see.

Name: Sasuke

Ninja Registration : 012606

Birthday/Age: July 23rd / 12

Blood type: AB

Graduated Academy: N/AMission ExperienceD: 00C: 01B: 02A: 06S: 02

Ninjutsu: 5

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 4

Intelligence: 3.5

Strength: 3.5

Speed:4.5

Stamina: 3.5

Hand seals: 4

Total: 31.5

"Are these on a scale of 10?" Sakura asked.

"No," he shook his head, "they're on a scale of five." Sakura's eyes widened. She had guessed that Sasuke was strong, but if she was _this _strong why was she just taking the chunin exams now? And why had she been able to take the higher ranking missions if she was still a genin?

Kabuto seemed to be able to read her like an open book as he answered her questions. "Sasuke is from the sound, a village that is just now establishing itself, in these villages they would rather stay under the radar for they simply don't have enough people for them to be successful in a war. As such many at ANBU rank stay a genin, as to avoid exams and public displays of power, but still take on high ranking missions. Now that the sound is getting larger they have decided to stop hiding and show the ninja world what they can do."

"How do you know all of this?" Naruto asked.

Kabuto shrugged, "We learned about it in the idea of it in the Acadamy, I was just aplying it."

"Well, I bet Sasuke isn't all that strong, " the blond huffed, "I bet I'm just as strong as her! Show me my card Kabuto!" The gray-haired ninja complied.

Name: Uzumaki NarutoNinja registration : 012607Birthday/Age: October 10th/12Blood type: BGraduated Academy: Age 12Mission ExperienceD: 12C: 01B: 00A: 00S: 00

Ninjutsu:2

Taijutsu:1.5

Genjutsu:1

Intelligence:1

Strength:2

Speed:2

Stamina:4

Hand Seals:1

Total:14.5

"What?" Naruto screamed, "That can't be right!"

"All right kiddies," the sound of their ever-famous jounin instructor spoke before anyone could argue with Naruto, "time for some team building exercises!"

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*I really dislike when people make an AU where someone grew up in a different village then pairs them with their original team. I like to think of these as the Olympics, or a football game. If someone from one team was unable to participate you wouldn't pick someone from another team to take their place-especially from the team they're going against. Not only is it against the rules, but the other team wouldn't agree to it. The chunin exams is a place for villages to show off their village's strength, why would they allow another village to borrow it?

A/N that was definitely a long chapter- and this is actually only half of what I had planned for it, but decided that would take a really long time to write, and that this is a chapter in itself anyway. The next chapter still has a lot of planning to do- and I'm not sure if I'll show the team-building exercise or not (it would probably just be an annoying filler anyway) but at the same time I need to establish the three's relationship…so I'm not really sure what the next chapter entails so forgive me if it takes a long time to be up.


	6. Chapter 6

The night that Sasuke was taken had not been forgotten by the Uchiha clan. Mikoto still tidied her long-lost daughter's room. Fugaku still searched mission records in hope of finding a clue as to where she was now. Yes, Mikoto and Fugaku still held onto that last shred of hope that, one day, their daughter would walk into the Uchiha district and greet the two with an Uchiha smirk firmly on her face. They did not, however, spend ever second of everyday trying to achieve that dream, they did not overwork themselves until they could no longer keep their blood-shot eyes open, they had moved on as best they could. Itachi couldn't help but be angry at them for that.

When Itachi had been no more than six and he had held his sister for the first time he promised himself that he would protect her at all costs. That vow barely lasted three years before Sasuke was taken and Itachi had fallen into a deep darkness. He trained tirelessly, raising through the ranks at amazing speed, and now, at eighteen, he was head of the ANBU. The Uchiha clan loved power, and admired Itachi for the amount he possessed.

The clan had always had reasons to be angry with the village. They had been segregated, they had been discriminated against, and they had always been seen as an artillery of weapons rather than a clan of people. Over the years their hatred of The Leaf Village had grown, and grown, until the clan had agreed to rise up against the village and remind the people why they were a clan to be feared. When Sasuke was stolen, and the village had merely declared the girl dead that had been the last straw for the Uchiha.

The Uchiha were known for being prideful, and arrogant, and confident, but one trait that many overlooked all too often was the patience that they possessed. They were not stupid, they knew that they couldn't defeat the mighty leaf village without help, and so they had waited out the years in angry silence. It was now, however, that they would show the village why not to mess with their clan.

The Sound and The Sand had offered an alliance in which The Leaf would burn to the ground. Itachi, who had been declared clan head a short six months ago, had jumped at the chance to avenge the memory of his baby sister and the rest of the clan had obediently followed.

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If Sasuke were to sum up her two teammates in one word it would be overconfident. The two weren't overly smart. They weren't overly powerful. They weren't overly deceitful. In fact the only thing the two were even 'above average' in was being arrogant. The two boys- Zaku Abumi and Dosu Kinuta- were both two years older than herself, but lacked immensely in skill.

Zaku Abumi somewhat reminded her of Kakashi- at least in appearance. They donned the same gravity-defying hair ( a trait that she doubted she would see a third time), the difference being that Zaku's was a dark brown color, to match his eyes. He wasn't intimidating looking at all actually- he was rather thin as well as short, in fact the only thing that was even slightly unsettling about his appearance was that the word death* was painted on the front of his baggy t-shirt in a blood red. It seemed that Orochimaru had seen to experimenting on this boy, and Zaku had ended up with hollow air tubes extending through his arms, opening through his hands. Zaku had bragged- rather obnoxiously- that he could propel a combination of air pressure and sound in various ratios which he controlled using his chakra.

Dosu was quieter than Zaku, but the same misplaced arrogance that the other boy possessed still came off of Dosu in waves. Unlike Zaku, Dosu possessed an eerie aura to him- as much as Sasuke hated to admit it Dosu was _almost _scary. A white gauze almost covers his face entirely, leaving only his left eye open for people to see. The way he holds himself combined with his choice of clothing: a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf as well as the way he hunches his back makes him look smaller than he actually is gives him an unsettling aura. It's almost as if he wants to blend in, while Zaku wants to stand out. They really are a strange combination when one takes the time to think about it.

"Oye, Sasuke!" Zaku called from the other side of the clearing the three were currently standing in. Sasuke turned her head towards the elder boy and raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Yes? I'm listening."

It wasn't the spiky haired teen that replied, but rather her other teammate, "Orochimaru gave us a message to give you once you arrived."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Her voice held an irritated tone to it.

"Well, it was pretty long, but basically it was to not go around poking your nose in other people's business," Zaku replied with a shrug, "whatever the hell that means."

After a short pause Sasuke turned her back towards the two and jumped off to find a tree where she could think.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Dosu questioned.

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"And I told you, I don't want my clan directly involved."

Itachi was a patient man, in fact he had been waiting (and he continued to wait) for his baby sister to come home for nearly a decade. When he was a child he would sit up all night looking out of the window waiting for his father to return home from a mission. And now he was in Orochimaru's dimly lit, dusty hideout waiting for him to agree to making their deal more beneficial for his clan.

"You're current role serves its purpose extremely well, why do you wish to change it now?" Orochimaru's voice was as smooth and slimy as a snake, slithering across the room and wrapping around Itachi in an uncomfortable vice grip.

"My clan still wishes to remain part of the village," It had taken several seconds for Itachi to speak, but when he did his voice was emotionless.

"Your clan? I assume you do not share their views?"

"…I could care less either way. I don't see what this has to do with our current problem. Either change our role or you are out an ally. Tell me your answer next week." Itachi turned around and walked out of Orochimaru's hideout.

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Sasuke was lying on one of the upper branches of a tree with her right leg drawn up and her right arm draped lazily over her knee. She had fled from her teammates a few hours ago to escape their annoying habit of trying to intimidate everything they see, as well as ponder Orochimaru's warning. Sensing a familiar chakra she turned her head to the left in order to see the figure approaching. Kabuto stepped out of the forest and into one of the sun patches before throwing a small red scroll towards her.

"What's this?" She asked, gripping the scroll firmly in her right hand.

"A mission scroll," Kabuto adjusted his glasses before turning away from her and dashing in the direction he had came from.

Sasuke brushed her thumb over the seal, releasing a small current of chakra in the process in order to un-seal the scroll.

Mission Rank: S class

Mission Objective: Initiate first attack on The Village Hidden in the Leaves

Mission Summary: Mission shall be carried out during the third stage of the Chunin examination. The Kazekage of The Village Hidden in the Sand had designated a delegate to assist in your mission. Name of delegate: Gaara. No more information on delegate is to be required.. Make a show during the examinations, the proctors shall notice both of your power. Ultimately the two of you shall end up in a fight, make this a show as well, at precisely 14:25 hours Gaara shall release his demon. You are to immediately proceeded as quickly as possible to the Kage booth for further instruction.

Sasuke raised an elegant eyebrow at the information before rolling the scroll up and tucking it into her back weapon's pouch. Orochimaru's ideas had always been a little crazy, but initiating a war against one of the five great nations? It was practically a suicide mission.

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The Uchiha's dinner table was low set- allowing its occupants to sit on the floor in traditional style seating rather than chairs. That was where Itachi sat with a hot cup of green tea in his fingers- though he wasn't drinking any. His mother-Mikoto- a beautiful older woman who's hair was now speckled both black and gray, had heard of his plans on the village. Being a mother she wasn't extremely quick to temper, in fact since Itachi had been born she had only risen her voice a grand total of three times.

The first time was when her youngest child and only daughter disappeared completely, the second would be when Fugaku had forgotten their seven year anniversary, and this would be the third time.

"We can't sign our clan up for a suicide mission!"

"It's not a suicide mission mother," Itachi's eyes calmly scanned the room in a lazily fashion.

"Are you forgetting that we are volunteering ourselves for a _distraction _in a war!" Mikoto flung her arms up, "Itachi, I know you want to restore our clan's honor, but killing us off is not the way to do it!"

"Calm down mother. I already spoke to Orochimaru about the arrangement. Sand and himself have each sent an above level genin into the exam in order for them to cause a grand distraction during the third stage. The only thing our clan is responsible for is to cast a mass genjutsu. You're forgetting I want the village to admire us-not kill us all off."

"So what?" The woman was calmer now, her worries at ease for a while, "we lie to the village and say we stopped them when we were really the third party involved?"

"I believe you already know your answer," With that Itachi stood up from the table they were once sitting at- his hot tea untouched.

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The group of nine looked around the room in awe. There was at least one team from every village, both the main hidden villages like Rock, Sand, and Water to the lesser known villages such as Waterfall, Snow, as well as Grass. They were all new to the ninja field (excluding Kabuto) and as a result their experience with outsider ninja was scarce, if at all.

The other ninjas were-for the most part- around fifteen making the rookies feel like lost children. While Naruto's eyes scanned the room, he suddenly jumped up and did something extremely Naruto-like.

"Hey Sasuke!" He shouted toward the Sound kinoichi. Said girl snapped her head towards the blond immediately before giving an exasperated sigh. "Come over here!" Naruto waved and pointed to indicate exactly where 'here' was- just in case she was too stupid to figure it out.

With everyone's eyes on her, she stalked forward leaving her teammates behind.

"Yes, dumb ass?"

"Guys! This is Sasuke!" Naruto was talking rapidly- excitedly- "She's the girl we told you about earlier!" A chorus of 'Hi Sasuke' followed his introduction, "Sasuke, this is Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Kabuto!" He pointed to each while saying their names.

Sasuke turned towards Naruto, who still had a large grin plastered across his face, before giving a small nod of acknowledgement towards the group of genin. Feeling the burning of someone's eyes in her back Sasuke turned to see Kabuto. It took all of five seconds for him to slip her a scroll and silently tell her to go back to her team and share the file.

Giving a small wave while walking away she started to read the scroll.

Memorize

1. 14.76 degrees

2. Wasabi and Wagarashi

3. Haruna

4. Nanafushi

5. 67 percent success rate

6. Lady Kayo

7. Land of Claws

8. Shion

9. Shadow mirror body changing method

While it didn't make much sense Kabuto was a smart guy, who had a reason for everything that he did. As a result she followed the instructions quickly with her sharingan before passing the scroll to her teammates to memorize.

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It took Sasuke a relatively short time to fill out the test- thanks to Kabuto's cheat sheet, which meant that she had a while to wait for this tenth question. Looking around the room she noticed that all (except for the few that hadn't figured it out yet) of the genin were cheating.

"Fourteen, thirty-six, and fifty-four you fail," a woman's voice echoes throughout the quiet room.

Sasuke placed her right elbow on the desk so she could lean her head into her hand. She still have exactly fourty-six minutes and thirty four seconds left until the tenth question was asked. Make that twenty-nine, twenty-eight-

"Twenty-seven, two, and forty-three you fail," this time it was a man's voice that boomed throughout the room.

While it seemed like the tenth question would never be asked to Sasuke, Naruto was still sweating about the first nine. In fact, he was the only one in the room that hadn't figured it out yet. As the minutes ticked by and Naruto still hadn't answered a single question it was suddenly truth time.

"Looks like we already dropped the incompetent ones," The proctor spoke, "since forty-five minutes have already passed I will now give the tenth question," he paused for a moment before continuing in a darker voice, "Yes, but before that there is one thing I must say. There will be one special rule for this last question. I will now explain, it is a hopeless rule. First, you are all going to choose if you want to take the tenth question or not."

A girl from sand that Sasuke didn't recognize spoke up, "What happens if we don't take the question?"

"If you choose not to take it you will fail, as well as your teammates. And here is the other rule. If you choose to take it and get it wrong you will lose the privilege to take this exam forever!"

The words did their job, as the genin looked at him in Shock. Sasuke herself wasn't too worried, this would most likely be her only shot at chunin and ranks didn't mean anything in Sound anyway, but she could tell that it was a big deal to everyone else.

"That can't be true!" the boy she recognized as Kiba shouted, "Some people here have taken this exam three or more times!"

While it was a good point, the proctor seemed to find his outburst funny, "You were unlucky. This year, I am the rule. That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not continent enough to take it can take this test next year, or the year after that. Let us begin. Those who will not be taking the exam please raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers you will be asked to leave."

The boy sitting next to Sasuke slowly raised his hand, "I can't take it!"

"Very well, fifty you fail. As do your teammates 130 and 111!" One of the nameless other jounin in the room called.

"Sorry guys," Sasuke heard the boy mumble.

After him others chose to follow, a total of eleven teams have walked out when Naruto- never giving up Naruto, the boy will a will tougher than any metal, the boy who never thinks anything is impossible- raises his hand. It's not just Sasuke that is shocked by this, as the other genin she met, along with Sakura and even Kabuto himself take in a sharp breath.

"Screw you! I'm not going to run away! I'll take this problem. Even if I become a Genin forever, I'm going to become a Hokage no matter what anyway! I'm not scared!" Well, that was definitely much more Naruto.

"I'll ask one more time. This is a choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit now is the chance."

"I don't take back my word. That's my way of the ninja!"

It seems that everyone's will was renewed by Naruto's speech, and while all that did was make more compitition Sasuke can't help but feel a little proud of the idiot.

"Nice determination," the proctor observes, "Then… for the first exam," an instantaneous breath hitch follows, "everyone here, passes!"

Well that's an eas- wait. What?

"What do you mean we pass?" Sakura blurts out, "You didn't ask the tenth question!"

"There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two choices the tenth question."

"Then what was the point of the first nine questions?" The same girl from sand demands.

"The problems were to test your individual information gathering skills- a must have for chunin. This question was to see if you can make the tough decisions that chunin have to make."

Suddenly a loud boom starts to shake the academy before a woman with strange purple hair and scantly dressed appears in front of the classroom.

"I am the second examiner, Anko! Let's start the exam!" 'Great, another Naruto' almost the entire room thinks.

"You're early." the other examiner deadpans.

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*Zaku's shirt in the series has three prints of the kanji for shi, literally meaning death.

A/N I'm sure you all were wondering what became of the Uchiha clan, and to be honest I changed my mind about the subject numerous times, but I have to say that this approach is definitely my favorite! I could go on to explain my reasoning for why everything happened, but I doubt you all want to know, but if you are curious or think that there is a hole in it PM me and I can tell you why I choose what I did. I know, the first exam was rather rushed, but let's be honest. We've all read A.U.s where there is a whole chapter dedicated to the first exam. And it's boring. And we all know it.


	7. Chapter 7

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Sasuke and her team landed with an almost inaudible thud. Sasuke crouched in the center, Dosu to her right and Zaku to her left. The three were behind a low bush, thin enough to peak through, but dense enough to avoid being seen. The trio silently watched their target- they had discussed the best team to confront hours earlier.

They had discussed the rookies- at how easy it would be to take them out, but in the end that was exactly why they had decided against that course of action. They needn't bother with a group that was almost sure to be taken out by another group, and if by chance they did make it through then it would just mean finishing the exam would be much easier. They had later looked over the various teams-Gaara's team from the sand was out for obvious reasons, and most of the other teams were a giant question mark.

Sasuke wasn't afraid of genin, but rather the possibility that Orochimaru, sand, or even an unkown third party had smuggled in others, and she didn't want to accidentally attack a ninja that could be at jounin level. There was only one other team that she was absolutely sure was made up of genin.

A feminine voice suddenly cut through the silent forest, "When should we start to head out, Neji?"

Four groups from Leaf (the only village that wouldn't have snuck in high-ranking ninja to take out the village*) had made it to the second exam. Three were rookies, and the fourth consisted of a weapons expert, a Taijutsu expert, and a Hyuuga. Raising her right arm with her hand in a 'stop' motion Sasuke signaled for her team to attack.

As soon and Dosu and Zaku lept up from the bushes and into the clearing the only girl in the group instantly sent a barge of weapons in their direction. In a snap Zaku flickered his arms up, blasting the ensemble of kunai, shuriken, and other sharp weapons in various directions.

"We don't want to hurt you," Sasuke spoke with slowly walking into the battle arena, "just give us your scroll."

"Or what?" The Hyuuga boy gave her a glare.

The edges of Sasuke's lips curled into a devious smirk while her eyes eased shut, "We'll take the scroll," the raven snapped her eyes open to reveal a black pattern written on red eyes.

Not to be out done the Hyuuga, whom the girl had called Neji, activated his own kekki genkei.

"Your eyes are nothing against mine!"

Sasuke shook her head, like a parent being amused by one of their small children, "A jutsu, even a kekki genki, is nothing unless the user knows how to properly use it."

"What do you-"

He was cut off as Sasuke leaped towards him at an amazing speed. Twisting her body towards the side she managed to maneuver her body into a low position. Neji placed his foot forward, taking on his fighting stance, before quickly darting towards the girl. While his efforts were commendable, Sasuke had been trained to dodge speeds much greater than his, and she was able to easily dodge his attack.

"I don't like being underestimated," if it were anyone else it would have come out in a growl, but Neji just let it flow in a calm manner.

"The _last _thing I want to deal with is your village complaining that I killed one of their Hyuuga's." Sasuke mimicked Neji in tone.

"I signed a waver, just as you have," the smirk was evident in his voice, "now _fight._"

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. Quicker than the normal human eye would have been able to follow she did a series of hand seals before uttering a quiet murmur.

"Chidori Nagashi."

It was nearly instant- the glowing needles landed into her opponents chakra points, and within seconds he let out a pained grunt and lost consciousness.

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"We've been out here _forever!_" Naruto complained in a winy voice.

"Actually it's only been a day and a half," Kabuto offered with a slight grin.

If the two young ninja had learned anything from this experience it was that Kabuto Yoshida was, indeed, the biggest asshole either of them had ever met. He had complained about Sakura's cooking _'I'd thought that all kinochi learn how to season fish correctly, oh well. I suppose you were just absent the day they explained that too much salt didn't taste well'. _He complained about how slow they were _'You know genin should really be able to travel much faster than this. Do both of you not practice cardio much?'_. To top all of that off he was the biggest smartass either had ever met (as his comment just now proved). All in all they were both extremely irritated with him, and decided that it was a real shame you couldn't murder your teammates without getting disqualified. Although, with the teammate they were stuck with, it might be worth staying as a genin another year.

Suddenly the sound of rustling could be heard, and the trio tensed slightly. The rustling got closer, there were two-possibly three- different patterns, they were quick, meaning they weren't simply dallying in the forest, they were headed for a purpose. Most likely their scroll.

"Ahh," came a muffled voice, "looks like tracked down a good team. This will be a piece of cake."

"Oh yeah? I'd love to see you say that after I smash your face in!" Naruto shouted.

"Technically you'd hear him say it," Kabuto corrected.

"Shut up Kabuto!" Both Naruto and Sakura shouted in sync.

It didn't take long before the three's antics were no longer important. It turns out that there had, indeed, been three members of the other team. They were a strange bunch. They had full body latex suits with some sort of gas mask covering their faces. They had all of the usual ninja gear (weapon holsters, headbands, ect), but that wasn't what was so strange about it. They all looked…identical?

'_Clones?' _Sakura thought _'But…they all have their own chakra signature? How is this possible?'_

She didn't have time to ask, as the one standing to the far right dashed for her. Miraculously, she dodged, before retaliating with a kunai that hit with a soft thunk. She smirked to herself before noticing that his body absorbed the kunai.

'_What are these guys?' _She thought, bewildered.

Meanwhile Kabuto and Naruto were fighting the other two. Kabuto appeared to simply be on the defense- avoiding attacks while not looking too interested in throwing his own. Naruto, on the other hand, was using his opponent as a punching bag. With the good it was doing him it might as well have _been _a punching bag he was hitting.

Every punch, kick, even the occasional slap, was being absorbed by the same technique Sakura's kunai had been absorbed with. Naruto didn't know what it was called, but he dubbed it P.I.A. (Pain in the ass).

"Just give it up already," the three said simultaneously, "You're just going to tire yourselves out. Just hand over the scroll and admit defeat."

"You obviously don't know us!" Naruto shouted, "We don't give up when it gets hard, and we aren't going down without a fight!"

"Yeah!" Sakura added, "You can shove your technique up your ass before the three of us kick it!"

Kabuto just stood there before throwing exploding notes at the enemies.

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"Now," Dosu smugly remarked, "do you still want us to take the scroll from you. Or are you going to give it to us?"

"With our power of youth and training from Gai-sensai, we can prevail! Right Tenten?"

"Be quiet Lee," Tenten said in a hushed tone, "I-I think we should just give it to them. We can't beat these guys."

"But Tenten," Lee argued.

"You saw what they did to Neji Lee!" She interrupted, "Now, give it up before we both end up dead. Getting a promotion isn't worth dying for."

"Smart girl," Zaku commented. Tenten just sent him a glare.

After a few seconds of rustling in her pack Tenten flung their scroll at Sasuke, "Just go now," she sighed. Sasuke smirked before leaping into the air, her team following suit.

Exam Two: Complete.

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The explosion cast their enemies back several feet. It appeared that the explosive tags were effective, as the trio of freaks (Naruto had taken it upon himself to give them names. The one fighting Sakura was Tio, the one fighting Kabuto was Kin, and the one fighting Naruto was loser- because he was going to lose) found it difficult to get back up.

"Why you! You'll pay for that!" The 'Kin' yelled. He sprinted forward, toward Kabuto, before Kabuto pressed several pressure points, incapacitating him.

"Now," Kabuto smirked, "may we have your scroll?"

The other two seemed bewildered as 'Kin' struggled to get up before reaching into his pack and handing it over.

"I hope we meet again. Next time I won't hold back," he informed Kabuto before he, and his team took off.

"How did you do that?" Sakura asked.

"When I was fighting him I noticed that he needed a hand seal to complete his technique, so I just had to be faster than he was." He replied with a grin. Neither Sakura nor Naruto fully believed him.

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_It wasn't a large village really, more like a small town. Approximately two-hundred and fifty people resided in this place, and in such a small town Ninja were basically non-existent. When Sasuke and her small team, made up of her, a man with spiky brown hair and a man with flat, short, white hair had entered the village the villagers noticed their holsters they had bombarded the trio with questions._

_An old woman, "Aren't you a bit young to be risking your lives?"_

_A small child, "Can you teach me how to do jutsu?"_

_An overprotective mother, "Don't go near them son they're dangerous!"_

_A young man, "What's so special about you?"_

_A pre-teen boy, "Why do you have a little girl with you?"_

_A teenage girl, "Will you marry me?"_

_The questions had droned on and on for almost an hour while the trio simply stood their ground, showing no indication of having heard them at all. Sasuke, getting impatient, decided to walk through the crowd pushing everyone out of her way. There were several surprised gasps as she split the crowd down the center. _

_Quiet murmurs of anger irrupted._

"_Who does she think she is?" 'Someone who could easily kill you off in a matter of seconds.'_

"_Ninja, always thinking they're better than civilians!" 'Because we are.'_

"_I'd love to fight her and show her who's boss around here!" 'Not a bad idea."_

"_Who said that?" Sasuke's voice cut through the crowd like a sharp blade. Sasuke stood-her back still turned to the crowd- for several seconds before turning around to face them._

"_Oh?" she arched a brow, "no one wants to confess? All talk then?" A dark smirk covered her once innocent-looking face, "That's fine. I suppose I'll just have to weed you out."_

_Sasuke turned her head to the right to reveal a quivering boy- hardly twelve. She placed her hand on her weapons pouch. There grew a heavy, tense, silence- everyone was wary about what would happen next. In the blink of an eye blood splattered and chaos erupted._

_Her team, although older than she, were under orders to follow her command. So, the second Sasuke had killed the pre-teen, the other two followed suite in slaughtering the rest of the villagers. Some looked in horror, simply standing there, shocked. Unable to cope. Others attempted to run, quickly getting chased down. Then there was the smallest group, the ones who had the long deaths, the ones who pitifully chose to fight a battle they knew they would not win. _

_Sasuke simply stood where she had killed the boy, smirking as she watched the chaos she had created unfold. _

_She was in Orochimaru's chambers now. The air was humid, and the lighting was dim, they changed bases every month, but somehow the terrible smell (a mixture of dead-rodent, old water, mold, and snake skin) followed them everywhere._

"_Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," a slimy voice scolded, "I specifically told you not to mess with the villagers. Now I have much more popularity than I would wish for. You do understand what this means for you, don't you?" a few seconds of silence, "Don't you?"_

(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)(=^.^=)

Sasuke awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat. She picked up her left arm and began tracing a deep scar that went from her right shoulder, down her side, and stopped at her hip. That day was once she would never forget, Orochimaru had, without mercy, sliced at her for stepping out of line. At the time she hadn't understood what was so wrong about it-he slaughtered people all of the time. Now, three years later, she understood that that was just it, _he _made the rules and she-and everyone else- were just pawns that followed them.

Most followed without complaint, they got something out of it as well. Orochimaru had saved them from a life even less desirable then the ones they lived now. They had gone with him willingly, in search of power, companionship, the idea of a future, but not Sasuke. She didn't even know what she had before. Had she been loved? If she wasn't with Orochimaru, would she be just an innocent civilian planting flowers? A regular genin? Would she even be _alive. _

When she was younger those thoughts used to plague her, but now she knew what she would be without Orochimaru. Nothing. Because he had made her into everything she now was. And she hated it.

Last chapter a reviewer asked why Sasuke was afraid of Orochimaru (as most of his followers worship him), I realized that I may have been pretty vague about that, and decided to have an explanation this chapter. If you have any more questions please leave a review or PM me, I'd hate for any of you to be confused!

QUESTION: Alright, so is there a specific team (or person) you would like me to write more about? As this is mainly about Sasuke, I have been writing mainly about her, but I would hate to be leaving out someone's favorite character, and these chapters would be the best place to put them. Not to mention- do any of you want to keep Team Gai in this?

* Sasuke doesn't know about the Uchiha clan, so to her that thought process seems entirely logical.

Sorry I took so long! I have no excuse, I was just lazy…


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